Google's Governance
Receives Low Marks

By

Phyllis Plitch Dow Jones Newswires

Updated Aug. 24, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET

Google Inc. tried to democratize the initial-public-offering process through its unconventional auction, but its corporate governance is anything but shareholder-friendly, according to an influential proxy adviser.

The proxy adviser, Institutional Shareholder Services, has relegated Google to the governance basement, ranking the Mountain View, Calif., search-engine company lower than any company in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. Google isn't part of the S&P 500, but the company's governance is sized up...